Building the Wellbeing Team Brand

Adam Mileusnic built the brand for Wellbeing Teams, to reflect our values and vision. In this blog he describes how he did this.

For just over a year now, I’ve been working with Helen Sanderson and her team to develop the branding for Wellbeing Teams – a radically different model for homecare.

It’s taken some time to develop this radical new model, and we’ve gone through a number of iterations already in terms of how we’re working and how we’re planning to grow, which has been reflected in our agile approach to communications. All of the core team are alumni of Seth Godin’s altMBA programme (I’m currently on the programme), and the ‘ship it’ model has led us to an iterative, flexible way of working which is reflected in our constant learning, checking, changing and developing over time.

With the first Wellbeing Teams due to launch shortly in Wigan, England, we’re now at a point where everything is finally becoming real. We’ve hired team members who share our values, are part way through our inductions, and have printed collateral to welcome people to our new service.

This seems like a logical point on which to reflect about what we’ve tried and learned with our branding, and today I’m starting by taking you through the thinking we used when designing the welcome brochure that we give to people upon starting our service. It’s one of the first items that some people and their families will come into contact with when engaging with our brand, so it needs to communicate what we stand for.

Here are 3 points that we kept in mind throughout.

1. Reflect the vibrancy of life

Wellbeing Teams aren’t just here to take people a ready-made meal and give them a bath. Far from it. As far as we’re concerned, keeping people safe, clean and well is of vital importance, but it’s a very low bar to set when we’re talking about supporting people to live their life well.

Instead, Wellbeing Teams focus on what’s important to people as well as what’s important for them, and we work with the people we support to understand how we can give them a vibrant, fulfilling life full of the things that matter to them.

Our brand colours reflect the vibrancy and variety that a life lived to the full brings, and it’s immediately apparent from a glance at the cover that we’re not going to just leave people alone at home with just the TV for company.

2. Keeping it real

Homecare photography often looks staged – often because it is.

We took a decision early on that stock photography was to be avoided as far as possible, because people can often tell that it’s not reflective of the service itself. Things look too clean, too sanitised – and that’s not what real life is like. During a pilot project we worked with Sam of Spark the Difference to start the Humans of Homecare project, and gathered a number of photographs of the team at work with the people they support.

They communicate the genuine warmth that we need to be able to get across in our communications, and we can use them going forward to start a visual toolkit that really reflects who we are and what we do.

We also use visual motifs throughout that tell people that our homecare service isn’t just about sitting at home (unless that’s what people want, of course). Instead, we can help with shopping, get out and about, getting back into hobbies that you might not have been able to continue anymore, connecting with your community, and more.

3. Putting people at ease

For us, homecare is about supporting people to live their life, the way they want to, in their own home. This means that people are inviting us in to their life and home – a potentially scary feeling that could make them feel like they are losing control.

A welcome brochure that feels impersonal and business-like, printed on an office printer and full of emergency contact details, would be the absolute worst way for us to put people at ease; nor would it show just how much we value the people we care for.

Instead our welcome document feels like a magazine that you’re interested in picking up and reading, or a brochure for a dynamic new product (which is exactly what it is). You can find the statutory information in there too, of course, but we want to let people know the most important information first – what we’re promising them and how we’ll support them to live their life. It feels bright, energetic, and most importantly, human.

Does it cost more to work like this? Yes, a little. But we all know that first impressions count, and we want to be supporting people over the long-term, building great relationships and building better lives and communities, together. So do we think it’s worth spending a little more to get off on the right foot? Absolutely.

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Hi, I'm Helen

I am developing Wellbeing Teams as a new way to support people in health and social care. Wellbeing Teams are small, neighbourhood, self-managed teams inspired by Buurtzorg. They work in partnership with our charity Community Circles. The first teams are delivering support at home to older people.

I have been immersed in the development of person-centred practices in the UK over the last twenty years. I was the Department of Health's expert advisor on person-centred approaches to the Valuing People Support and Putting People First Teams. I co-authored the first Department of Health Guidance on person-centred planning, and the 2010 guidance 'Personalisation through person-centred planning'. My PhD is on person-centred planning and organisational change and I have written over twenty books on person-centred thinking, planning, community and personalisation. I am a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

I worked in health as an occupational therapist, and then in social care for over 30 years. I lead HSA, a social enterprise; am a founder member of Community Circles; and chair of the H S A Foundation. The HSA Foundation funded the start of our charity Community Circles.

HSA developed one-page profiles, person-centred reviews, and Working Together for Change. We have led the developments in support planning in health and social care. In 2016 HSA started working towards becoming a teal organisation, to use LaLoux's term. This means working as a self-managed team, bringing our whole selves to work, and seeing our purpose as evolving. I am a certified Holacracy Practitioner.

I am an AltMBA alumni and coached on the programme in 2016 and 2017.

I live in Heaton Moor with Andy and I have three daughters, Ellie, Laura and Kate, a dog, cats + hens. Although I am a black belt in karate, I now try to spend more time practicing yoga and mindfulness meditation.